Company Spotlight: Och-Ziff Capital Management Group

Och-Ziff Capital Management Group is a global alternative asset management firm as well as an American hedge fund manager. At the beginning of 2011 OZM was managing over $28 billion in assets.
The firm is large, with over 400 people employed throughout the world with offices located in Beijing, Mumbai, Hong Kong, London, and New York. OZM utilizes a large variety of strategies of investing, including merger arbitrage, equity restructuring, distressed investments, real estate, convertible arbitrage, credit, and private investments.

In 1994 the company was launched by Daniel Och with the support of the Ziff family. The Ziffs began Ziff Davis Media, and William Ziff’s three sons manage the family investments through Ziff Brothers Investments. Och is the chairman of the board today.

The firm went public in 2007 when its shares were listed on the New York Stock Exchange for $32, which turned out to be bad timing for the company. It was one of the few hedge funds/private equity companies that actually completed its IPO before the crash of the market in 2007. Since that time the stock has lost a considerable amount of its value, reaching its lowest point in 2008 of $4.02.  Today OZM’s stock is trading at $9 a share.

It has been reported that OZM was able to keep their losses to a minimum during the economic crisis of 2008 as institutional capital was funneled into the company at least until 2010.
 

Published by James Heinsman

James has worked as a hedge fund manager for years. As someone who has always enjoyed multi-tasking, James brings his vast financial experience and his hedge fund background to his position as writer and editor for Hedge Crunch. Editor James Heinsman can be contacted at james(at)hedgecrunch.com.